Key findings

• Becoming the Head of State or Head of Government remains elusive for women, with only 14 women in the world currently holding either position.
• In just 23 countries do women comprise a critical mass – over 30 per cent – in the lower or single house of their national parliament.
• Worldwide on average only one in six cabinet ministers is a woman.
• Women are highly underrepresented in decision-making positions at local government levels.
• In the private sector, women continue to be severely underrepresented in the top decisionmaking positions.
• Only 13 of the 500 largest corporations in the world have a female Chief Executive Officer.

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Selected visual statistics (Click on the graph to enlarge)

Source: Computed by the United Nations Statistics Division based on data from United Cities and Local Governments (2009) and national sources. Note: Unweighted averages; the numbers in brackets indicate the number of countries with available data.

Source: Computed by the United Nations Statistics Division based on data from United Nations, The World’s Women 2000: Trends and Statistics (2000); and Inter-Parliamentary Union and United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, Women in Politics: 2008 (2008).
Note: Unweighted averages. No data for Eastern Asia 1998.